{"id":4124,"date":"2013-10-25T08:44:25","date_gmt":"2013-10-25T08:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=4124"},"modified":"2018-02-16T10:13:58","modified_gmt":"2018-02-16T09:13:58","slug":"ninna-nanna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/ninna-nanna\/","title":{"rendered":"Ninna Nanna"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days ago I wrote a \u2018sleepy\u2019 post \u2026 which I hope you managed to stay awake long enough to read! Here\u2019s another word that we use for going to sleep\/bed when we\u2019re talking to children, la<\/strong> nanna<\/strong>. Let\u2019s look at a couple of typical examples of how it\u2019s used:<\/p>\n

forza, \u00e8 ora di andare a nanna<\/strong> = come on, it\u2019s time to go to sleep<\/p>\n

facciamo la nanna<\/strong> = let\u2019s go to sleep<\/p>\n

or simply: a nanna!<\/strong> = to bed! \u2026 said in commanding tone of voice.<\/p>\n

When we were children, the 8 o\u2019clock evening news on TV was always followed by Carosello<\/strong>, a series of adverts lasting a total of about 15 minutes\u00a0 (I\u2019ll probably do a post about it!). Most of them were designed to appeal to children, even when they advertised products for adults. Allora<\/strong>, going back to the word nanna<\/strong>, I\u2019m sure that most children of my generation will remember their parents telling them: \u201cDopo Carosello tutti a nanna!\u201d <\/strong>= \u201cAfter Carosello<\/strong> everybody off to bed!\u201d<\/p>\n

The word ninna nanna<\/strong> (or less commonly ninnananna<\/strong>) means lullaby, and it\u2019s a combination of the word nanna<\/strong> with its synonym ninna<\/strong>, which comes from the verb ninnare<\/strong>, meaning to lull a child to sleep. The most popular ninna nanna<\/strong> is undoubtedly \u201cNinna nanna, ninna oh\u201d<\/strong>, of which there are many variations. The common element in all of these is the presence of characters belonging to the imaginary world of childhood, in particular l\u2019uomo nero<\/strong> (the black man), a menacing character used to scare children, and la Befana<\/strong>, the old witch who brings presents to children on the sixth of January. You can find out more about these characters by clicking on the following links:\u00a0 l\u2019uomo nero<\/span><\/strong><\/a> and la befana<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Click on the image below to hear a very relaxing version of \u201cNinna nanna, ninna oh\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n